Video Output Problems

Whenever i connect the composite video adapter to my ibook and try to watch a dvd the video on the TV fades in and out; it gets darker and lighter, but this doesnt happen when playing realplayer, or quicktime videos, only when viewing dvds. does anyone know whats up with that?

That sounds like the result of Macrovision copy protection kicking in.

It shouldn't be your iBook causing the problem, are you running the the video through a VCR or other piece of equipment before reaching your TV? It could be the Macrovision chip in that piece of equipment detecting the Macro signal and degrading the picture quality, try running the video straight into the TV and see if it improves.

If you're already running it directly into the TV I'm really not sure what the problem could be.

I'll second the Macrovision theory. I've had problems with Macrovision between my DVD Player and my VCR, and the result is exactly as you describe -- the picture fades in and out, and sometimes the colors are a little messed up.

I regularly connect my iBook to my VCR to view video through the TV, but I never view _DVDs_ in this configuration so I've never had the specific problem you describe. Wouldn't surprise me if Macrovision would mess that up, though.

It is Macrovision, it should work fine if you connect the video directly to the moniter, as i understand it Macrovision sends a signal in the video that causes the autogain on the video recorder play up, hence the bright & dark pictures. Most monitors dont have autogain so are not affected by this. VLC VideoLAN player my get round the problem.

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